Chapter XXI: Part 21

In course of time a large and increasing proportion of the good land became, under the titles so far described, limited private property. The area of arable land available for the common use of the clansmen was gradually diminished by these encroachments, but was still always substantial. A share of this was the birthright of every law-abiding member of the Feini who needed it. To satisfy this title and give a start in life to some young men who would otherwise have got none, this land was subject to _Gabhailcine_ (= clan-resumption), meaning that the clan resumed the whole area at intervals of a few years for a fresh distribution after some occupants had died, and young men by attaining manhood had become entitled. Hence the Anglo-Irish word _gavelkind_. Anciently this re-distribution extended throughout the clan at the same time. Later it extended only to the land of a _fine_, each _fine_ making its own distribution at its own time and in its own way as determined by the seventeen men above specified. In this distribution men might or might not receive again their former portions. In the latter case compensation was made for unexhausted improvements. This land could not be sold, nor even let except for a season in case of domestic necessity. The Feini who used it had no landlord and no rent to pay for this land, and could not be deprived of it except by the clan for a crime. They were subject only to public tributes and the ordinary obligations of free men. Presumably their homesteads were not on this land and were not subject to _Gabhailcine_. Neither were the unfenced and unappropriated common lands--waste, bog, forest and mountain--which all clansmen were free to use promiscuously at will.

There was hardly any selling and little letting of land in ancient times. Flaiths and other persons holding large areas let to clansmen, who then became _Ceiles_, not land, but the privilege of feeding upon land a number of cattle specified by agreement. Flaiths and Bo-aires also let cattle to a _ceile_ who had none or not enough, and this was the most prevalent practice. There were two distinct methods of letting and hiring--_saer_ (= free) and _daer_ (= base), the conditions being fundamentally different. The conditions of _saer_-tenure were largely settled by the law, were comparatively easy, did not require any security to be given, left the _ceile_ free within the limits of justice to end the connexion, left him competent in case of dispute to give evidence against that of the flaith, and did not impose any liability on the _fine_ of the _ceile_. By continued user of the same land for some years and discharge of the public obligations in respect of it in addition to the _ciss_ or payment as tenant, a _ceile_ became a sub-owner or permanent tenant and could not be evicted. There is no provision in these laws for evicting any one. For the hire of cattle a usual payment was one beast in seven per annum for seven years; after which the cattle that remained became the property of the hirer. A _saer-ceile_ on growing wealthy might become a _bo-aire_. _Daer-tenure_, whether of cattle or of the right to graze cattle upon land, was subject to a _ciss-ninsciss_ (= wearisome tribute), for the payment of which security had to be given. A man not in the enjoyment of full civil rights, if able to find security, could become a _daer-ceile_. A free clansman by becoming a _daer-ceile_ lowered his own status and that of his _fine_, became incompetent to give evidence against that of a flaith, and could not end the connexion until the end of the term except by a large payment. The members of his _fine_ were liable, in the degree of their relationship, to make good out of their own property any default in the payments. Hence this tenure could not be legally entered into by a free clansman without the permission of his fine. _Daer-ceiles_ were also exposed to casual burdens, like that of lodging and feeding soldiers when in their district. All payments were made in kind. When the particular kind was not specified by the law or by agreement, the payments were made according to convenience in horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, wool, butter, bacon, corn, vegetables, yarn, dye-plants, leather, cloth, articles of use or ornament, &c. As the clan system relaxed, and the fine lost its legal power of fixing the amounts of public tributes, which were similarly payable to the _flaith_, and neglected its duty of seeing that those tributes were duly applied, the _flaith_ became able to increase these tributes with little check, to confuse them with rent, to confuse jurisdiction with ownership, and to exalt himself at the expense of his fellow-clansmen. A _flaith_ by arranging that his tenants should make their payments at different periods of the year, secured a constant and copious supply without an inconvenient surplus.

People who did not belong to the clan and were not citizens were in a base condition and incompetent to appear in court in suit or defence except through a freeman. The _Bothach_ (= cottier) and the _Sen-cleithe_ (= old dependent) were people who, though living for successive generations attached to the families of flaiths, did not belong to the clan and had no rights of citizenship. _Fuidhirs_, or manual labourers without property, were the lowest section of the population. Some were born in this condition, some clansmen were depressed into it by crime, consequences of war or other misfortune; and strangers of a low class coming into the territory found their level in it. The _fuidhirs_ also were divided into _saer_ and _daer_; the former being free by industry and thrift to acquire some property, after which five of them could club together to acquire rights corresponding to those of one freeman. The _daer-fuidhirs_ were tramps, fugitives, captives, &c.

Fosterage, the custom of sending children to be reared and educated in the families of fellow-clansmen, was so prevalent, especially among the wealthy classes, and the laws governing it are so elaborate and occupied such a large space, that some mention of it here is inevitable. Beyond mention, there is little to be said, owing to the absence of general principles in an infinity of specific details, mostly domestic and apparently trivial. A child in fosterage was reared and educated suitably for the position it was destined to fill in life. There was fosterage for affection, for payment and for a literary education. Fosterage began when the child was a year old and ended when the marriageable age was reached, unless previously terminated by death or crime. Every fostered person was under an obligation to provide, if necessary, for the old age of foster-parents. The affection arising from this relationship was usually greater, and was regarded as more sacred than that of blood relationship.

The solidarity of clan and _fine_ in their respective spheres, the provisions of the system, the simple rural life, and the prevalence of barter and payments in kind, left comparatively little occasion for contracts between individuals. Consequently the rules relating to contract are not very numerous. They are, however, sufficiently solemn. No contract affecting land was valid unless made with the consent of the _fine_ and in the presence of the _Aire-Forgaill_. Contracts relating to other kinds of property are more numerous. When important or involving a considerable amount, they had to be made in the presence of a _flaith_ or magistrate. The _Aire-Coisring_ presided over most of the contracts of the common people. The parties to a contract should be free citizens, of full age, sound mind, free to contract or not, and under no legal disability. "The world would be in a state of confusion if express contracts were not binding." From the repeated correlative dicta that "nothing is due without deserving," and that a thing done "for God's sake," i.e. gratis, imposed little obligation, it is clear that the importance of valuable consideration was fully recognized. So also was the importance of time. "To be asleep avails no one"; "Sloth takes away a man's welfare." Contracts made by the following persons were invalid: (1) a servant without his master's authority; (2) a monk without authority from his abbot or manager of temporalities; (3) a son subject to his father without the father's authority; (4) an infant, lunatic, or "one who had not the full vigilance of reason"; (5) a wife in relation to her husband's property without his authority. She was free to hold and deal with property of her own and bind it by contract. If a son living with his father entered into a contract with his father's knowledge, the father was held to have ratified the contract unless he promptly repudiated it. "One is held to adopt what he does not repudiate after knowledge, having the power." Contract of sale or barter with warranty could be dissolved for fraud, provided action was taken within a limited time after the fraud had become known. Treaties and occasional very important contracts were made "blood-covenants" and inviolable by drawing a drop of blood from the little finger of each of the contracting parties, blending this with water, and both drinking the mixture out of the same cup. The forms of legal evidence were pledges, documents, witnesses and oaths. In cases of special importance the pledges were human beings, "hostage sureties." These were treated as in their own homes according to the rank to which they belonged, and were discharged on the performance of the contract. If the contract was broken, they became prisoners and might be fettered or made to work as slaves until the obligation was satisfied. Authentic documents were considered good evidence. A witness was in all cases important, and in some essential to the validity of a contract. His status affected the force of the contract as well as the value of his evidence; and the laws appear to imply that by becoming a witness, a man incurred liabilities as a surety. The pre-Christian oath might be by one or more of the elements, powers or phenomena of nature, as the sun, moon, water, night, day, sea, land. The Christian oath might be on a copy of the Gospels, a saint's crozier, relic or other holy thing.

These laws recognized crime, but in the same calm and deliberate way in which they recognized contract and other things seriously affecting the people. Although we find in the poems of Dubhthach, written in the 5th century and prefixed to the _Senchus Mor_, the sentences, "Let every one die who kills a human being," and "Every living person that inflicts death shall suffer death," capital punishment did not prevail in Ireland before or after. The laws uniformly discountenanced revenge, retaliation, the punishment of one crime by another, and permitted capital punishment only in the last resort and in ultimate default of every other form of redress. They contain elaborate provision for dealing with crime, but the standpoint from which it is regarded and treated is essentially different from ours. The state, for all its elaborate structure, did not assume jurisdiction in relation to any crimes except political ones, such as treason or the disturbance of a large assembly. For these it inflicted the severest penalties known to the law--banishment, confiscation of property, death or putting out of eyes. A crime against the person, character or property of an individual or family was regarded as a thing for which reparation should be made, but the individual or family had to seek the reparation by a personal action. This differed from a civil action only in the terms employed and the elements used in calculating the amount of the reparation. The function of a judge in a criminal as in a civil action was to see that the facts, with modifying circumstances, were fully and truly submitted to him, and then by applying the law to these facts to ascertain and declare the amount of compensation that would make a legal adjustment. For this amount the guilty person, and in his default his kindred, became legally debtor, and the injured person or family became entitled to recover the amount like a civil debt by distraint, if not paid voluntarily. There were no police, sheriffs or public prisons. The decisions of the law were executed by the persons concerned, supported by a highly organized and disciplined public opinion springing from honour and interest and inherent in the solidarity of the clan. There is good reason to believe that the system was as effectual in the prevention and punishment of crime and in the redress of wrongs as any other human contrivance has ever been.

In calculating the amount of compensation the most characteristic and important element was _Einechlan_ (= honour-price, honour-value), a value attaching to every free person, varying in amount from one cow to thirty cows according to rank. It was the assessed value of _status_ or _caput_. It was frequently of consequence in relation to contracts and other clan affairs; but it emerges most clearly in connexion with crime. By the commission of crime, breach of contract, or other disgraceful or injurious conduct, Einechlan was diminished or destroyed, a _capitis diminutio_ occurred, apart from any other punishment. Though existing apart from fine, Einechlan was the first element in almost every fine. _Dire_ was the commonest word for fine, whether great or small. _Eric_ (= reparation, redemption) was the fine for "separating body from soul"; but the term was used in lighter cases also. In capital cases the word sometimes meant Einechlan, sometimes _coirp-dire_ (= body-fine), but most correctly the sum of these two. It may be taken that, subject to modifying circumstances, a person guilty of homicide had to pay (i) _coirp-dire_ for the destruction of life, irrespective of rank; (2) the honour-value of the victim; (3) his own honour-value if the deed was unintentional; and (4) double his own honour-value if committed with malice aforethought. The sum of these was in all cases heavy; heaviest when the parties were wealthy. The amount was recoverable as a debt from the criminal to the extent of his property, and in his default from the members of his _fine_ in sums determined by the degree of relationship; and it was distributable among the members of the _fine_ of a murdered person in the same proportions, like a distribution among the next of kin. The _fine_ of a murderer could free themselves from liability by giving up the murderer and his goods, or if he escaped, by giving up any goods he had left, depriving him of clanship, and lodging a pledge against his future misdeeds. In these circumstances the law held the criminal's life forfeit, and he might be slain or taken as a prisoner or slave. He could escape only by becoming a _daer-fuidhir_ in some distant territory. When the effect of a crime did not go beyond an individual, if that individual's _fine_ did not make good their claim while the criminal lived, it lapsed on his death. "The crime dies with the criminal." If an unknown stranger or person without property caught red-handed in the commission of a crime refused to submit to arrest, it was lawful to maim or slay him according to the magnitude of the attempted crime. "A person who came to inflict a wound on the body may be safely killed when unknown and without a name, and when there is no power to arrest him at the time of committing the trespass." For crimes against property the usual penalty, as in breach of contract, was generic restitution, the quantity, subject to modifying circumstances, being twice the amount taken or destroyed.

Distress of seizure of property being the universal mode of obtaining satisfaction, whether for crime, breach of contract, non-payment of debt, or any other cause, the law of distress came into operation as the solvent of almost every dispute. Hence it is the most extensive and important branch, if not more than a branch, of these ancient laws. Of several words meaning distress, _athgabail_ was the most frequently used. A person having a liquidated claim might either sue a debtor or proceed at his peril to seize without this preliminary. In the latter case the defendant could stop the progress of the seizure by paying the debt, giving a pledge, or demanding a trial; and he then could choose a Brehon. Distress was of two kinds--(1) _athgabal ar fut_ (= distress on length, i.e. with time, with delays); and (2) _athgabail tulla_ (= immediate distress). Which method was pursued depended partly upon the facts of the case and partly upon the respective ranks of the parties. A person entitled to seize property had to do it himself, accompanied, if the amount was large, by a law agent and witnesses. No man was entitled to seize unless he owned, or had a surety who owned, sufficient property for indemnity or adjustment in case the seizure should be found to have been wrongful. The formalities varied in different circumstances and also at different times in the long ages in which these laws prevailed. Some forms may, in the Irish as in other legal systems, have become merely ceremonial and fictitious.

_Tellach_ (= seizure of immovable property) was made in three periods or delays of ten days each (= 30 days). The first step was a notice that unless the debt was paid immediately seizure would be made. Ten days later, the plaintiff crossed the fence in upon the land, with a law agent, a witness and a pair of horses yoked or harnessed, and in a loud voice stated the amount of the debt and called upon the defendant to pay it according to law. On receiving no answer, or an unsatisfactory one, he withdrew. After an interval of ten days more, the creditor entered with his law agent, two witnesses and four horses, went farther in upon the land, repeated his demand, and if refused withdrew. Finally, after a further interval of ten days, he entered once more with his law agent, three witnesses and eight horses, drove up to the debtor's house, repeated his demand, and if not satisfied drove a herd of cattle or a flock of sheep in upon the farm and left men to care for them.

_Athgabail_ ordinarily meant the seizure of movable property. The following technical terms will indicate the procedure in distress with time:--_Aurfocre_ (= demand of payment, stating the amount in presence of witnesses); _apad_ (= delay); _athgabail_ (= the actual seizure); _anad_ (= delay after seizure, the thing remaining in the debtor's possession); _toxal_ (= the taking away of the thing seized); _fasc_ (= notice to the debtor of the amount due, the _mainder_ or pound in which the thing seized is impounded, and the name of the law agent); _dithim_ (= delay during which the thing is in pound); _lobad_ (= destruction or forfeiture of the debtor's ownership and substitution of the creditor's ownership). There was no sale, because sale for money was little known. The property in the thing seized, to the amount of the debt and expenses, became legally transferred from the debtor to the creditor, not all at once but in stages fixed by law. A creditor was not at liberty to seize household goods, farming utensils, or any goods the loss of which would prevent the debtor recovering from embarrassment, so long as there was other property which could be seized. A seizure could be made only between sunrise and sunset. "If a man who is sued evades justice, knowing the debt to be due of him, double the debt is payable by him and a fine of five seds." When a large debt was clearly due, and there was no property to seize, the debtor himself could be seized and compelled to work as a prisoner or slave until the debt was paid.

When a defendant was of rank superior to that of the plaintiff, distress had to be preceded by _troscad_ (= fasting). This is a legal process unknown elsewhere except in parts of India. The plaintiff having made his demand and waited a certain time without result, went and sat without food before the door of the defendant. To refuse to submit to fasting was considered indelibly disgraceful, and was one of the things which legally degraded a man by reducing or destroying his honour-value. The law said "he who does not give a pledge to fasting is an evader of all; he who disregards all things shall not be paid by God or man." If a plaintiff having duly fasted did not receive within a certain time the satisfaction of his claim, he was entitled to distrain as in the case of an ordinary defendant, and to seize double the amount that would have satisfied him in the first instance. If a person fasting in accordance with law died during or in consequence of the fast, the person fasted upon was held guilty of murder. Fasting could be stopped by paying the debt, giving a pledge, or submitting to the decision of a Brehon. A creditor fasting after a reasonable offer of settlement had been made to him forfeited his claim. "He who fasts notwithstanding the offer of what should be accorded to him, forfeits his legal right according to the decision of the Feini."

AUTHORITIES.--Since Sir Samuel Ferguson wrote his article on "Brehon
Laws" in the 9th edition of this _Encyclopaedia_, much research has
been done on the subject, and Ferguson's account is no longer accepted
by scholars, either as regards the language or the substance of the
laws. Pending the work of a second Brehon Law Commission, the Laws are
best studied in the six imperfect volumes (_Ancient Laws of Ireland_,
1865-1901) produced by the first Commission (ignoring their long and
worthless introductions), together with, Dr. Whitley Stokes's
_Criticism_ (London, Nutt, 1903) of Atkinson's _Glossary_ (Dublin,
1901). The following are important references (kindly supplied by Dr
Whitley Stokes) for detailed research:--R. Dareste, _Etudes d'histoire
de droit_, pp. 356-381 (Paris, 1889); Arbois de Jubainville and Paul
Collinet, _Etudes sur le droit celtique_ (2 vols., Paris, 1895);
Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, vol. i. pp. 168-214 (2
vols., London, 1903); _Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie_, iv. 221,
the Copenhagen fragments of the Laws (Halle, 1903); important letters
in _The Academy_, Nos. 699, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 707
(substantially covered by Stokes's _Criticism_); _Revue Celtique_,
xxv. 344; _Erin_, i. 209-315 (collation by Kuno Meyer of the Law-tract
Crith Gablach); Maine's _Early Hist, of Institutions_ (1875) and
_Early Law and Custom_, pp. 162, 180 (1883); Hearn's _Aryan Household_
(1879), and Maclennan's _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 453-507
(1876), contain interesting general reference, but the writers were
not themselves original students of the laws. L. Ginnell's _Brehon
Laws_ (1894) may also be consulted. See further the article CELT,
sections _Language_ and _Literature_. (L. G.)

BREISACH, or ALTBREISACH, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of Baden, on the left bank of the Rhine, standing on a basalt rock 250 ft. above the river, 10 m. W. of Freiburg-im-Breisgau, and on the railway connecting that city with Colmar. Pop. (1900) 3537. It has a fine minster, partly Romanesque, partly Gothic, dating from the 10th to the 15th centuries; of its two principal towers one is 13th century Gothic, the other Romanesque. The interior is remarkable for its rich decorations, especially the wood-carving of the high altar, and for many interesting tombs and pictures. There is little industry, but a considerable trade is done in wines and other agricultural produce. On the opposite bank of the Rhine, here crossed by a railway bridge, lies the little town of Neubreisach and the fort Mortier.

Breisach (_Brisiacum_), formerly an imperial city and until the middle of the 18th century one of the chief fortresses of the Empire, is of great antiquity. A stronghold of the _Sequani_ (a Gallic tribe, which occupied the country of the Doubs and Burgundy), it was captured in the time of Julius Caesar by Ariovistus and became known as the _Mons Brisiacus_. Fortified by the emperor Valentian in 369 to defend the Rhine against the Germans, it retained its position throughout the middle ages as one of the chief bulwarks of Germany and was called the "cushion and key (_Kissen und Schlussel_) of the German empire." Its importance was such that it gave its name to the district Breisgau, in which it is situated. In 939 it was taken by the emperor Otto I., and after remaining in the exclusive possession of the emperors for two centuries, was strengthened and shared for a while between them and the bishops of Basel. In 1254 and 1262 the bishops obtained full control over it; but in 1275 it was made an imperial city by King Rudolph I., and at the beginning of the 14th century his son brought it definitively into the possession of the Habsburg monarchs, leaving the bishops but few privileges. In the Thirty Years' War Breisach successfully resisted the Swedes, but after a memorable siege and a defence by General von Reisach, one of the most famous in military annals, it was forced to capitulate to Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar on the 18th of December 1638. The endeavours of the emperor Ferdinand III. to retake it were fruitless, and by the peace of Westphalia (1648) Breisach was annexed to France. By the peace of Ryswick (1697) it was restored to Austria, when Louis XIV. built the town and fortress of Neubreisach on the left bank of the Rhine. Again in 1703 it fell into the hands of the French, owing to treachery, but was ceded to Austria by the peace of Rastatt (1714)--Yet again, in the War of the Austrian Succession, it was captured (1744) by the French, who dismantled the fortifications. They refortified it in 1796, and after passing, by the peace of Luneville (1801), together with the Breisgau to the duke of Modena, Breisach was by the peace of Pressburg (1805) finally incorporated with Baden, when the fortifications were razed. During the Franco-German War (1870) Breisach suffered severely from bombardment directed against it from Neubreisach.

BREISGAU, a district of Germany, in the grand duchy of Baden. It extends along the right bank of the Rhine from Basel to Kehl, and includes the principal peaks of the southern Black Forest and the Freiburg valley. The Breisgau, originally a _pagus_ or _gau_ of the Frankish empire, was ruled during the middle ages by hereditary counts. Of these the earliest recorded is Birtilo (962-995), ancestor of the counts and dukes of Zahringen. On the death of Berchthold V. of Zahringen in 1218, his coheiresses brought parts of the Breisgau to the counts of Urach and Kyburg, while part went to the margraves of Baden. At the close of the 13th century the Kyburg part of the Breisgau passed to the Habsburgs, who in 1368 acquired also the town and countship of Freiburg, which had been sold by the counts of Urach to the Freiburgers and given in pledge by them to the house of Austria in exchange for a loan of the purchase price, which they were unable to repay. The male Urach line becoming extinct in 1457, an heiress carried what remained of their possessions in the Breisgau to the house of Baden. In the struggle between France and Austria from the 17th century onwards the Breisgau frequently changed masters. In 1801 Austria was forced to cede it to Ercole III., duke of Modena, in compensation for the duchy of which Napoleon had deprived him. His successor Ferdinand took the title of duke of Modena-Breisgau, but on his death in 1805 the Breisgau was divided between Baden and Wurttemberg. The latter ceded its portion to Baden in 1810.

See Stokvis, _Manuel d'histoire, &c._ (Leiden, 1890-1893).

BREISLAK, SCIPIONE (1748-1826), Italian geologist of German parentage, was born at Rome in 1748. He early distinguished himself as professor of mathematical and mechanical philosophy in the college of Ragusa; but after residing there for several years he returned to his native city, where he became a professor in the Collegio Nazareno, and began to form the fine mineralogical cabinet in that institution. His leisure was dedicated to geological researches in the papal states. His account of the aluminous district of Tolfa and adjacent hills, published in 1786, gained for him the notice of the king of Naples, who invited him to inspect the mines and similar works in that kingdom, and appointed him professor of mineralogy to the royal artillery. The vast works for the refining of sulphur in the volcanic district of Solfatara were erected under his direction. He afterwards made many journeys through the ancient Campania to illustrate its geology, and published in 1798 his _Topografia fisica della Campania_, which contains the results of much accurate observation. Breislak also published an essay on the physical condition of the seven hills of Rome, which he regarded as the remains of a local volcano,--an opinion shown to be erroneous by the later researches of G.B. Brocchi. The political convulsions of Italy in 1799 brought Breislak to Paris, where he remained until 1802, when, being appointed inspector of the saltpetre and powder manufactories near Milan, he removed to that city. The mineral Breislakite was named after him. He died on the 15th of February 1826. His other publications include:--_Introduzione alla geologia_ (1811, French ed. 1819); _Traite sur la structure exterieure du globe_, 3 vols. and atlas (Milan, 1818, 1822); _Descrizione geologica della provincia di Milano_ (1822).

BREITENFELD, a village of Germany in the kingdom of Saxony, 5-1/2 m. N.N.W. of Leipzig, noted in military history. The first battle of Breitenfeld was fought on the 17th of September 1631, between the allied Swedish and Saxon armies under Gustavus Adolphus and the imperial forces under Count Tilly. The battlefield is a low ridge running east and west between the villages of Gobschelwitz and Breitenfeld, the position of the Imperialists lying along the crest from Gobschelwitz on the right to a point about 1 m. short of Breitenfeld on the left; opposite this position, and behind a group of villages on the Loberbach stream, lay the Swedish forces, flanked on their left by the Saxon contingent under the elector, who was assisted by Arnim. The villages formed the only obstacle on the gentle slope lying between the Loberbach and Tilly's line; through these villages the Swedes defiled slowly, and formed up on the open ground beyond them. Tilly's army was drawn up in a continuous line, the infantry ranged in heavy battalions in the centre, the cavalry on the wings, and the heavy artillery in a mass in front of the infantry. Gustavus arrayed the Swedes in two lines and a reserve, infantry in the centre, cavalry on the flanks, and the Saxons were drawn up in a similar formation on the left of the Swedish left-wing cavalry. So far as can be gauged the respective numbers were at least 32,000 Imperialists, 22,000 Swedes and 15,000 Saxons. The Swedish infantry was drawn up on an entirely novel system; each brigade of infantry, composed of several battalions, was formed in many small and handy corps of pikemen and musketeers, and parties of musketeers were also detached to support the cavalry. The guns were scattered along the front. The Saxons were ranged, like Tilly's army, in heavy masses of foot and horse preceded by a great battery of guns. At 2 P.M. Pappenheim, commanding Tilly's left wing, led forward the whole of his cavalry in a furious charge. Feeling the fire of the musketeers who were intercalated amongst the Swedish horse, Pappenheim swung round to his left and charged the Swedish right wing in flank. The Swedes of both lines promptly wheeled up, and after a prolonged conflict the Imperial horse were driven completely off the field. The attack of Tilly's right wing under Furstenberg directed against the Saxons was more successful. The Saxons were at once broken and routed, only a handful under Arnim maintaining the ground. Furstenberg pursued the fugitives for many miles, and Tilly with the centre of infantry (which, considering the depth of its formations, must have possessed great manoeuvring power) rapidly followed him and formed up opposite the now exposed left of the Swedes. Thereupon the Swedes, in their light and handy formation, changed position rapidly and easily to meet him. Tilly's attack was strenuously opposed, and at this moment the decisive stroke of the battle was delivered by the Swedish right wing, which, having disposed of Pappenheim, swung round and occupied the ground originally held by the Imperial infantry, seized Tilly's guns, and with them enfiladed the enemy's new line. This put an end to the attack of the Imperial foot, and before sunset Tilly was in full retreat, hotly pursued and losing heavily in prisoners. His losses on the field have been estimated at 7000 killed and wounded and almost as many prisoners; the Swedes lost about 2000 and the Saxons over 4000 men.

The village of Breitenfeld also gives its name to another great battle in the Thirty Years' War (November 2, 1642), in which the Swedes under Torstensson defeated the Imperialists under the archduke Leopold and Prince Piccolomini, who were seeking to relieve Leipzig. The Swedish cavalry decided the day on this occasion also.

BREMEN, a free state in the German empire, bearing the title _Freie Hansestadt Bremen_. It falls into three distinct parts: (1) the largest portion, with the city of Bremen, lying on both banks, but chiefly on the right, of the lower course of the Weser, surrounded by the Prussian province of Hanover and the grand-duchy of Oldenburg, and consisting in the main of lowland country intersected by canals and dykes; (2) the town and district of Vegesack, lying separate from, but immediately north of the main portion, on the right bank of the river; (3) the port of Bremerhaven, 46 m. down the Weser, at its mouth. Of the whole territory, which has an area of 99 sq. m., about one-half is meadow and grazing land, one-quarter under tillage, and the remainder occupied by a little woodland, some unprofitable sandy wastes, the bed of the Weser and the towns. Market gardening, the rearing of cattle, for which the district is widely famed, and fishing, form the chief occupations of the rural population. The climate is mild, but the rainfall (26.9 in. annually on the average) is relatively considerable. The population is shown as follows:--

+-----------------+-----------+----------+
| | 1900 | 1905 |
+-----------------+-----------+----------+
| Bremen, city | 186,822 | 214,953 |
| Vegesack | 3,943 | 4,130 |
| Bremerhaven | 20,315 | 24,159 |
| Rural districts | 37,327 | 20,431 |
+-----------------+-----------+----------+
| Total | 248,407 | 263,673 |
+-----------------+-----------+----------+

Of the inhabitants, who belong to the Lower Saxon (_Nieder-Sachsen_) race and in daily intercourse mostly speak the Low German (_Plattdeutsch_) dialect, about two-thirds are natives of the state and one-third immigrants from other parts of Germany, chiefly from Hanover and Oldenburg. About 93% are Protestants, 6% Roman Catholics, and only 1/2% Jews. The form of government is that of a republic, under a constitution proclaimed on the 8th of March 1849, revised on the 21st of February 1854, the 17th of November 1875, and the 1st of January 1894. The sovereignty resides jointly in the senate and the Burgerschaft, or Convent of Burgesses. The senate, which is the executive power, is composed of sixteen life members, elected by the convent, on presentation by the senate. Of these ten at least must be lawyers and three merchants. Two of the number are nominated by their colleagues as burgomasters, who preside in succession for a year at a time and hold office four years, one retiring every two years. The Burgerschaft consists of 150 (formerly 300) representatives, chosen by the citizens for six years, and forms the legislative body. Fourteen members are elected by such citizens of Bremen (city) as have enjoyed a university education, forty by the merchants, twenty by the manufacturers and artisans, and forty-eight by the other citizens. Of the remaining representatives, twelve are furnished by Bremerhaven and Vegesack and sixteen by the rural districts. As a member of the German empire, the state of Bremen has one voice in the Bundesrat and returns one member to the Imperial diet (Reichstag). Formerly Bremen was a free port, but from the 1st of October 1888 the whole of the state, with the exception of two small free districts in Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, joined the German customs union. The state has two Amtsgerichte (courts of first instance) at Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, and a superior court, Landgericht, at Bremen, whence appeals lie to the Oberlandesgericht for the Hanseatic towns in Hamburg. The judges of the Bremen courts are appointed by a committee of members of the senate, the Burgerschaft and the bench of judges. By the convention with Prussia of the 27th of June 1867, the free state surrendered its right to furnish its own contingent to the army, the recruits being after that time drafted into the Hanseatic infantry regiment, forming a portion of the Prussian IX. army corps.

BREMEN, a city of Germany, capital of the free state of Bremen, and one of the Hanseatic towns. It lies on a sandy plain on both banks of the Weser, 46 m. from the North Sea and 71 m. S.W. from Hamburg by rail, on the mainline to Cologne. Pop. (1905) 214,953. It has also direct railway communication with Berlin via Uelzen, Hanover and Bremerhaven. The city consists of four quarters,--the old town (Altstadt) and its suburban extensions (Vorstadt) being on the right bank of the river, and the new town (Neustadt) with its southern suburb (Sudervorstadt) on the left bank. The river is crossed by three bridges, the old, the new (1872-1875) Kaiserbrucke, and the railway bridge, with a gangway for foot passengers. The ramparts of the old town have long been converted into beautiful promenades and gardens, the moats forming a chain of lakes.

The romantic old town, with its winding streets and lanes, flanked by massive gabled houses, dates from the medieval days of Hanseatic prosperity. On the market square stands the fine town hall (Rathaus), dating from the 15th century, with a handsome Renaissance _facade_ of a somewhat later date, and before it a stone statue of Roland, the emblem of civic power. Its celebrated underground wine cellar has been immortalized by Wilhelm Hauff in his _Phantasien im Bremer Ratskeller_. The town hall is internally richly embellished and has a gallery of interesting paintings. In an upper hall a model of an old Hanseatic frigate, with the device _Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse_, hangs from the ceiling. Among other ancient buildings, situated chiefly in the old town, are the following:--the cathedral of St Peter (formerly the archiepiscopal and now the Lutheran parish church), erected in the 12th century on the site of Charlemagne's wooden church, and famous for its Bleikeller, or lead vault, in which bodies can be preserved for a long time without suffering decomposition; the church of St Ansgarius, built about 1243, with a spire 400 ft. high; the church of Our Lady, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries; the 12th century Romanesque church of St Stephen; the Schutting, or merchants' hall, originally built in 1619 for the cloth-traders' gild; the Stadthaus (town house), formerly the archiepiscopal palace, and converted to its present uses only in 1819. The most important and imposing among the more modern architectural additions to the city are the handsome Gothic exchange, completed in 1867, the municipal theatre, the municipal library, the post office (1878), the law courts (1891-1895), the wool exchange, the German bank, the municipal museum for natural science, ethnology and commerce, and the fine railway station (1888). The principal memorials embrace, besides the Roland, the Willehad fountain (1883), the monument of the Franco-German War (erected 1875), the centaur fountain (1891), an equestrian statue of the emperor William I. (1893), and a statue of the poet Theodor Korner. A beautiful park, Burgerpark, has been laid out in the Burgerweide, or meadows, lying beyond the railway station to the north-east of the city. It is a peculiarity of the domestic accommodation of Bremen that the majority of the houses, unlike the custom in most other German towns, where flats prevail, are occupied by a single family only.

The industries and manufactures of Bremen are of considerable variety and extent, but are more particularly developed in such branches as are closely allied to navigation, such as shipbuilding, founding, engine-building and rope-making. Next in importance come those of tobacco, snuff, cigars, the making of cigar boxes, jute-spinning, distilling, sugar refining and the shelling of rice. Bremen owes its fame almost exclusively to its transmaritime trade, mainly imports. By the completion of the engineering works on the Weser in 1887-1899, whereby, among other improvements, the river was straightened and deepened, to 18 ft., large ocean-going vessels are able to steam right up to the city itself. It has excellent railway connexions with the chief industrial districts of Germany. Like Hamburg, it does predominantly a transit trade; it is especially important as the importer of raw products from America. In two articles, tobacco and rice, Bremen is the greatest market in the world; in cotton and indigo it takes the first place on the continent, and it is a serious rival of Hamburg and Antwerp in the import of wool and petroleum. The value of the total imports (both sea-borne and by river and rail) increased from L22,721,700 in 1883 to about L60,000,000 in 1905; the imports from the United States, from L9,755,000 in 1883 to about L25,000,000 in 1905. The countries from which imports principally come are the United States, England, Germany, Russia, the republics of South America, the Far East and Australia. The exports rose from a total of L26,096,500 in 1883 to L62,000,000 in 1905. The number of vessels which entered the ports of the free state (i.e. Bremen city, Bremerhaven and Vegesack) increased from 2869 of 1,258,529 aggregate tonnage in 1883, to 4024 of 2,716,633 tons in 1900. Bremen is the centre for some of the more important of the German shipping companies, especially of the North German Lloyd (founded in 1856), which, on the 1st of January 1905, possessed a fleet of 382 steamers of 693,892 tons, besides lighters and similar craft. Bremen also shares with Hamburg the position of being one of the two chief emigration ports of Germany. There are three docks, all to the north-west of the city--namely, the free harbour (which was opened in 1888), the winter harbour, and the timber and industrial harbour. Internal communication is served by an excellent system of electric tramways, and there is also a local steamboat service with neighbouring villages on the Weser.

_History._--According to Brandes, quoting Martin Luther in the _Lexicon Philologicum_, the name is derived from _Bram, Bram, i.e. hem_ = the river-bank, or confine of the land on which it was built. In 787 Bremen was chosen by St Willehad, whom Charlemagne had established as bishop in the _pagi_ of the lower Weser, as his see. In 848 the destruction of Hamburg by the Normans led to the transference of the archiepiscopal see of Hamburg to Bremen, which became the seat of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. In 965 the emperor Otto I. granted to Archbishop Adaldag "in the place called Bremen" (_in loco Bremun nuncupato_) the right to establish a market, and the full administrative, fiscal and judicial powers of a count, no one but the bishop or his _advocatus_ being allowed to exercise authority in the city. This privilege, by which the archbishop was lord of the city and his _Vogt_ its judge, was frequently confirmed by subsequent emperors, ending under Frederick I. in 1158. Though, however, there is no direct evidence of the existence of any communal organization during this period, it is clear from the vigorous part taken by the burghers in the struggle of the emperor Frederick with Henry the Lion of Saxony that some such organization very early existed. Yet in the _privilegium_ granted to the townspeople by Frederick I. in 1186 the emperor had done no more than guarantee them their personal liberties. The earliest recognition of any civic organization they may have possessed they owed to Archbishop Hartwig II. (1184-1207), who had succeeded in uniting against him his chapter, the nobles and the citizens; and the first mention of the city council occurs in a charter of Archbishop Gerhard II. in 1225, though the _consules_ here named doubtless represented a considerably older institution. In the 13th century, however, whatever the civic organization of the townsfolk may have been, it was still strictly subordinate to the archbishop and his _Vogt_; the council could issue regulations only with the consent of the former, while in the judicial work of the latter, save in small questions of commercial dishonesty, its sole function was advisory. By the middle of the 14th century this situation was exactly reversed; the elected town council was the supreme legislative power in all criminal and civil causes, and in the court of the _advocatus_ two _Ratsmanner_ sat as assessors. The victory had been won over the archbishop; but a fresh peril had developed in the course of the 13th century in the growth of a patrician class, which, as in so many other cities, threatened to absorb all power into the hands of a close oligarchy. In 1304 the commonalty rose against the patricians and drove them from the city, and in the following year gained a victory over the exiles and their allies, the knights, which was long celebrated by an annual service of thanksgiving. This was the beginning of troubles that lasted intermittently throughout the century. Bremen had been admitted to the Hanseatic league in 1283, but was excluded in 1285, and not readmitted until 1358. Owing to the continued civic unrest it was again excluded in 1427, and only readmitted in 1433 when the old aristocratic constitution was definitively restored. But though in Bremen the efforts of the craftsmen's "arts" to secure a share of power had been held in check and the gilds never gained any importance, the city government did not, as at Cologne and elsewhere, develop into a close patrician oligarchy. Power was in the hands of the wealthy, but the avenues to power were open to those who knew how to acquire the necessary qualification. There was thus no artificial restraint put upon individual enterprise, and the question of the government having been settled, Bremen rapidly developed in wealth and influence.

The Reformation was introduced into Bremen in 1522 by Heinrich von Zutphen. Archbishop Christopher of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1487-1558), a brutal libertine, hated for his lusts and avarice, looked on the reforming movement as a revolt against himself. He succeeded in getting the reformer burned; but found himself involved in a life and death struggle with the city. In 1532 Bremen joined the league of Schmalkalden, and twice endured a siege by the imperial forces. In 1547 it was only saved by Mansfeld's victory at Drakenburg. Archbishop Christopher was succeeded in 1558 by his brother Georg, bishop of Minden (d. 1566), who, though he himself was instrumental in introducing the reformed model into his other diocese of Verden, is reckoned as the last Roman Catholic archbishop of Bremen. His successor, Henry III. (1550-1585), a son of Duke Francis I. of Lauenburg, who had been bishop of Osnabruck and Paderborn, was a Lutheran and married. Protestantism was not, however, definitively proclaimed as the state religion in Bremen until 1618. The last archbishop, Frederick II. (of Denmark), was deposed by the Swedes in 1644. In 1646 Bremen received the privileges of a free imperial city from the emperor Ferdinand III.; but Sweden, whose possession of the archbishopric was recognized two years later, refused to consent to this, and in 1666 attempted vainly to assert her claims over the city by arms--in the so-called Bremen War. When, however, in 1720 the elector of Hanover (George I. of Great Britain) acquired the archbishopric, he recognized Bremen as a free city. In 1803 this was again recognized and the territory of the city was even extended. In 1806 it was taken by the French, was subsequently annexed by Napoleon to his empire, and from 1810 to 1813 was the capital of the department of the Mouths of the Weser. Restored to independence by the congress of Vienna in 1815, it subsequently became a member of the German Confederation, and in 1867 joined the new North German Confederation, with which it was merged in the new German empire.

See Buchenau, _Die freie Hansestadt Bremen_ (3rd ed., Bremen, 1900, 5
vols.); _Bremisches Urkundenbuch_, edited by R. Ehmck and W. von
Bippen (1863, fol.); W. von Bippen, _Geschichte der Stadt Bremen_
(Bremen, 1892-1898); F. Donandt, _Versuch einer Geschichte des
bremischen Stadtrechts_ (Bremen, 1830, 2 vols.); _Bremisches Jahrbuch_
(historical, 19 vols., 1864-1900); and Karl Hegel, _Stadte und
Gilden_, vol. ii. p. 461 (Leipzig, 1891).

BREMER, FREDRIKA (1801-1865), Swedish novelist, was born near Abo, in Finland, on the 17th of August 1801. Her father, a descendant of an old German family, a wealthy iron master and merchant, left Finland when Fredrika was three years old, and after a year's residence in Stockholm, purchased an estate at Arsta, about 20 m. from the capital. There, with occasional visits to Stockholm and to a neighbouring estate, which belonged for a time to her father, Fredrika passed her time till 1820. The education to which she and her sisters were subjected was unusually strict; Fredrika's health began to give way; and in 1821 the family set out for the south of France. They travelled slowly by way of Germany and Switzerland, and returned by Paris and the Netherlands. It was shortly after this time that Miss Bremer became acquainted with Schiller's works, which made a very deep impression on her. She had begun to write verses from the age of eight, and in 1828 she succeeded in finding a publisher for the first volume of her _Teckningar ur hvardagslifvet_ (1828), which at once attracted attention. The second volume (1831), containing one of her best tales, _Familjen H._, gave decisive evidence that a real novelist had been found in Sweden. The Swedish Academy awarded her their smaller gold medal, and she increased her reputation by _Presidentens dottrar_ (1834), _Grannarne_ (1837) and others. Her father had died in 1830, and her life was thereafter regulated in accordance with her own wishes and tastes. She lived for some years in Norway with a friend, after whose death she travelled in the autumn of 1849 to America, and after spending nearly two years there returned through England. The admirable translations (1846, &c.) of her works by Mary Howitt, which had been received with even greater eagerness in America and England than in Sweden, secured for her a warm and kindly reception. Her impressions of America, _Hemmen i nya verlden_, were published in 1853-1854, and at once translated into English. After her return Miss Bremer devoted herself to her scheme for the advancement and emancipation of women. Her views on these questions were expounded in her later novels--_Hertha_ (1856) and _Far och dotter_ (1858). Miss Bremer organized a society of ladies in Stockholm for the purpose of visiting the prisons, and during the cholera started a society, the object of which was the care of children left orphans by the epidemic. She devoted herself to other philanthropic and social schemes, and gradually abandoned her earlier simple and charming type of story for novels directed to the furtherance of her views. In these she was less successful. In 1856 she again travelled, and spent five years on the continent and in Palestine. Her reminiscences of these countries have all been translated into English. On her return she settled at Arsta, where, with the exception of a visit to Germany, she spent the remaining years of her life. She died on the 31st of December 1865.

See _Life, Letters and Posthumous Works of F. Bremer_, by her sister,
Charlotte Bremer, translated by F. Milow, London, 1868. A selection of
her works in 6 vols. appeared at Orebro, 1868-1872.